The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has today elected to keep UK interest rates on hold at the historically low level of 0.5%, as widely expected. Interest rates have now been at this low level since March 2009 – when the economy was in the midst of recession. Recent figures show the economy [...]
According to Spencer Dale, the Bank of England’s chief economist, UK inflation is set to accelerate due to soaring energy bills. The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed UK Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) rose to annual rate of 4.5% in August from July’s rate of 4.4% – more than double the [...]
The Bank of England has today revealed mortgage approvals picked up significantly in August to a 20-month high. According to the Bank, there were 52,410 loans approved in the month – almost 3,000 more than the level seen in July and the highest figure since December 2009. The figure was also higher than the 49,500 [...]
The latest house price index from the Nationwide Building Society has revealed prices rose by just 0.1% in September on a monthly basis. On an annual basis, house prices are now 0.3% lower than this time last year with the average UK home costing £166,256. Meanwhile, when comparing prices in the three months to the [...]
Minutes of the Bank of England’s September 7-8 meeting have been released today and have revealed all nine members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted to keep interest rates at the historic low of 0.5%. This was the second consecutive month that the Committee voted unanimously to keep rates at the record low after [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) today announced Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) rose to annual rate of 4.5% last month from July’s rate of 4.4%. However, the figure was in line with analysts’ expectations. Higher inflation continues to be led by rising food costs but the main reason behind last month’s rise was a 5.1% [...]
The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has today elected to keep UK interest rates on hold at the historically low level of 0.5%, as widely expected. Interest rates have now been at this low level since March 2009 – when the economy was in the midst of recession. Recent figures show the economy [...]
The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) commenced its two-day rate-setting meeting yesterday and interest rates are expected to remain on hold at the record low of 0.5% – where they have been since March 2009. The bank is presented with a dilemma as it comes under pressure to raise interest rates to combat [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today revealed UK factory output shrank by 0.2% in July after a flat reading the previous month. The reading was worse than economists had expected and confirm weak prospects for the economy after the figures suggest a poor start to the third quarter. The fall was attributed to [...]
The Bank of England has today revealed mortgage approvals picked up significantly in July to a 14-month high. According to the central Bank, there were 49,239 loans approved in the month – higher than the upwardly revised 48,500 for June and a significant improvement on April’s 45,855 which represented a four-month low. The figure was [...]
Minutes of the Bank of England’s August 3-4 meeting have been released today and have revealed all nine members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted to keep interest rates at the historic low of 0.5%. For several months, Martin Weale and Spencer Dale have been lone voices on the Committee by voting to hike [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) today announced Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) rose to annual rate of 4.4% last month after easing to 4.2% in June. Analysts had expected the figure to rise slightly to 4.3%. Higher inflation continues to be led by rising food costs – which grew by 6.2% in July, while clothes [...]
Speaking in the House of Commons today, Chancellor George Osborne has warned that the UK can expect a long and tough recovery. His speech came as he defended the Government’s tough spending cuts, which many have been critical about – even suggesting they could push the UK back into recession. However, the Chancellor believes that [...]
The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has opted to keep the base rate at 0.5% in August, as widely expected. The rate has remained at its historic low for well over two years and earlier predictions of a rise this autumn lost credibility once UK economic growth slowed to 0.2%, in the second [...]
The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) commenced its two-day rate-setting meeting yesterday and interest rates are expected to remain on hold at the record low of 0.5% – where they have been since March 2009. The bank is presented with a dilemma as it comes under pressure to raise interest rates to combat [...]
Minutes of the Bank of England’s July 6-7 meeting have been released today and have revealed the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) again voted 7-2 to lift interest rates and 8-1 to restart the Bank’s quantitative easing (QE) scheme. Adam Posen, again, called for an injection of £50 billion via the QE scheme to boost the [...]
The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has today elected to keep UK interest rates on hold at the historically low level of 0.5%, as widely expected. Interest rates have now been at this low level since March 2009 – when the economy was in the midst of recession. Recent figures show the economy [...]
A campaign group has written to the Bank of England’s rate-setting committee to urge them to lift interest rates to encourage saving. The low interest rate of 0.5% has been in place since March 2009 – when the economy was in the midst of recession. The record low rate, however, has meant the value of [...]
The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) commenced its two-day rate-setting meeting yesterday and interest rates are expected to remain on hold at the record low of 0.5% – where they have been since March 2009. The bank is presented with a dilemma as it comes under pressure to raise interest rates to combat [...]
Phone fraudsters stealing bank card pins
Fraudsters using a phone scam to trick bank card holders into revealing their pin numbers stole £750,000 in the first four months of this year. This is the same amount stolen through this scam in the whole of last year. The fraudster telephones a bank customer, often someone elderly or vulnerable, telling them that their [...]
FSA rules out ban on interest-only mortgages
Speculation that the Financial Services Authority would ban interest-only mortgages as part of its Mortgage Market Review has proved to be unfounded. However, lenders will be required to monitor the performance of the investment product taken out by the customer to repay the mortgage at the end of its term. Investments are performing poorly because [...]
Bank of England may end free in-credit banking
A director of the Bank of England has warned that official intervention could be considered to end the ‘dangerous myth of free in-credit banking’. Andrew Bailey has already spoken out against free banking in relation to the mis-selling of financial products. In a speech made available to media, he reiterated his concern, saying that it [...]
Bank of England votes against more economic stimulus
The Bank of England voted against a further round of quantitative easing, at its latest Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting. Just one member, David Miles, voted for further asset purchase to encourage growth in the UK economy, while the other eight members voted to keep the Bank’s quantitative easing programme steady at £325bn. The minutes [...]
Catalogue debt growing says helpline
Calls from people concerned about their debts with mail order catalogues accounted for more than 12 per cent of all calls received by National Debtline last year, compared with just 8 per cent in 2007. More people were concerned about catalogue debt than about payday loans, mortgage or rent, according to the Money Advice Trust [...]
Homeserve faces mis-selling investigation
HomeServe, which provides emergency insurance cover and domestic repairs to households in the UK, is to be investigated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Issues over the possible mis-selling of household emergency policies were uncovered last October during an internal review at the Walsall-based company. Homeserve’s call centre staff were found to be selling ‘Complete [...]
OFT warns Wonga over debt collection methods
Payday loan company Wonga used aggressive and misleading methods to collect debts from customers, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has found. Wonga sent letter and emails to certain customers suggesting they had committed fraud and threatening to report them to the police if they did not act in the way Wonga suggested. The company [...]
NS&I re-launches investment account
National Savings & Investments (NS&I) has re-launched its Investment Account at a higher interest rate than it previously offered. The account now offers 0.75 per cent before tax, compared with between 0.2 and 0.3 per cent previously, depending on the account balance. Deposits and withdrawals on the account can no longer be made at Post [...]
Rightmove reports property downsizing trend
Two in five property owners planning to sell in the next year are planning to ‘trade down’, compared with one in four who plan to ‘trade up’. A survey by property website Rightmove found that moving to a smaller home is the main reason for moving in nine out of the ten regions in the [...]
More people failing to save for retirement
The proportion of people with no pension savings has grown from 20 per cent to 22 per cent over the past year, according to Scottish Widows’ latest survey. The pension provider surveyed 5,200 adults in the UK, aged 30 or over, and earning at least £10,000 a year, for its annual review of pensions. Ian [...]
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